Chapter 6 - The Web of Betrayal
Lucía sat in silence, tears spilling down her own cheeks as she watched Alejandro weep. For seven years, this man had been trapped in a prison of dark lies built by his closest friend.
After several minutes, Alejandro slowly pulled himself together, wiping his face with a linen handkerchief. The raw grief on his face was rapidly replaced by a terrifying, burning fury.
"Seven years," Alejandro said, his voice dropping into a register so cold it made the room feel like ice. "Seven years he let me rot in this house, believing I was unlovable. Believing my own wife threw me away like garbage."
"He stole everything from you, Mr. Rivas," Lucía said, her voice shaking. "Your sight, your wife, your life."
"And he made me pay him to manage my misery," Alejandro said, his fists clenching on the desk until his knuckles turned white. He turned his head toward Lucía. "The short letter I found seven years ago... the one that said she was leaving with another man..."
"It was a forgery," Lucía realized. "Julian swapped the letters before you woke up from your surgery."
"He kept this letter hidden behind the photograph," Alejandro said, piecing it together. "He was arrogant enough to keep it as a trophy, right under my nose, knowing I couldn't see it to open the frame."
"What are we going to do?" Lucía asked. "We need to go to the police!"
"No," Alejandro said sharply. "Julian has bribed city officials, police chiefs, and judges for a decade. If we hand a seven-year-old handwritten letter to the authorities, Julian will claim it’s a fake written by a disgruntled former maid—you."
Lucía swallowed hard. "He threatened me today, Mr. Rivas. After you left the study, he told me he would blacklist me and ruin my life if I kept talking to you."
Alejandro’s head snapped toward her. "He threatened you and Valentina?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then he has made his final mistake," Alejandro said, standing up from his desk. Though he was blind, he stood tall and imposing, the authority of a powerful executive returning to his posture. "Julian thinks I am a harmless, blind hermit trapped in this mansion. He thinks I am broken. He has forgotten who built Rivas Industries from nothing."
He walked over to the corner of the room and pressed a hidden button on the wall behind a bookshelf. A small metallic safe clicked open. Alejandro reached inside and pulled out a sleek, satellite-encrypted mobile phone that had been sitting untouched for years.
"Who are you calling?" Lucía asked.
"The only man in this city Julian couldn't buy," Alejandro said as he dialed a number from memory. "Inspector Gabriel Torres."
Lucía gasped softly. "Torres? That's my late father's brother... my uncle!"
Alejandro paused, his fingers resting on the keypad. "Inspector Torres is your uncle?"
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"Yes, sir! He’s a senior detective in the major crimes unit. But... my family hasn't spoken to him in years because my father fell out with him over money."
A dark, sharp smile touched Alejandro’s lips. "It seems destiny brought you and your daughter into this house for a reason, Lucía. Call your uncle. Tell him Alejandro Rivas is ready to dismantle Julian Sterling’s empire, piece by piece."
